


Like a Bludger to the Heart

by Lampsprite



Series: Harry Potter AU [2]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Harry Potter AU, M/M, Pining, Steve POV, idiot boys in love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-06
Updated: 2019-06-06
Packaged: 2020-04-11 23:16:47
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,867
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19119715
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lampsprite/pseuds/Lampsprite
Summary: The first time Steve sees Tony Stark, the kid is buried under the Sorting Hat and Sam mutters into Steve’s ear, “If Stark isn’t in Slytherin, I’ll eat my own hat.”





	Like a Bludger to the Heart

**Author's Note:**

> This is both a companion and a sequel to There Should be a Potion for This (which was in Tony’s POV). So you should definitely read that first if you haven’t already.

The first time Steve sees Tony Stark, the kid is buried under the Sorting Hat and Sam mutters into Steve’s ear, “If Stark isn’t in Slytherin, I’ll eat my own hat.”

Sure enough, the Sorting Hat bellows, “Slytherin!” And Stark stumbles off the stool, loose-limbed as a newborn fawn.

Steve eyes Sam. “You know him?”

“You don’t?” Sam frowns at Steve’s silence. “The Starks are an old Wizarding family, one of the oldest. All purebloods.”

“Purebloods?” Bucky asks from Steve’s other side, voice muffled by a mouth full of mutton pie.

“Yeah, no muggle – non-magic – blood.” Sam shakes his head. “I keep forgetting you guys are from the muggle world yourselves.”

Sam notices Bucky stiffen and puts a hand up. “No offense! It just means there’s a lot you guys don’t know.”

“So tell us,” Steve says. “Why would Stark be in Slytherin?”

Sam takes a swig from his goblet and tips it toward their table. “They’re all Purebloods. Slytherin was the only Founder who cared about blood and money. And Stark has both in spades. The Dark Lord was from that house. If you ask me, you guys dodged a hex by getting placed in Gryffindor.”

Steve stares at the Slytherin table, weary now. He has to admit they do seem a bit stiff and standoffish. Even Stark, so soon after his newborn deer impression, now appears comfortable in his perfectly pressed robes, a smirk on his face as he leans toward a pretty red-head. Steve hadn’t really had an opinion about Houses before, but now he finds himself relieved he isn’t in that one. He’s skinny as a rail and his robes are careworn. He barely has a galleon to his name. But those kids, they look like they were born with silver spoons in their mouths. The kinds of kids who look down on kids like him.

Luckily, he doesn’t have much time to think about them as he’s swept up in the revelation that is Gryffindor Tower. It’s cosy with its fireplace and plush beds. It’s the fanciest place he’s ever lived.

“We’ve hit it big, eh, Stevie?” Bucky grins as he drops his trunk beside his own four-poster.

Steve grins back. No more shivering on a shared mattress with Bucky while his mother slaves away on the night shift at the hospital in order to bring the heat back on. The dorms here are warm, artificially so. Magically. And isn’t that the kicker? He had no idea magic was even real until he’d received his Hogwarts letter. But here they are. He and Buck, both Wizards.

And unlike the kids at his old school, his Housemates take to him despite his frailty. It doesn’t hurt that he seems to be a natural at dueling and charms, which is exhilarating after a lifetime of only excelling at more quiet pursuits like reading and sketching. Magic unlocks a strength in him that he never knew was there, but he loves it. After a childhood of getting beaten up on the playground and back alleys, he finally feels like he can make a difference.

His Housemates are easy to get along with even when he gets in what Bucky calls one of his self-righteous moods. There’s Sam, Dum Dum, Gabe, Jim, Falsworth, and Jacques. There’s also Peggy. A second-year girl he can’t even talk to without his stomach tying itself in knots, but gosh she’s swell.

He isn’t too sure how it starts – Bucky will say it’s a reference to Dum Dum going commando and yowling about it when he’s drunk on smuggled firewhiskey one night – but the moniker, Howling Commandos sticks to their ragtag group to the point where the whole school starts calling them by the name. And Steve becomes the unofficial Captain, sometimes said with reverence sometimes with scorn, because he can’t keep his nose out of things – according to Bucky.

It starts when he finds the Slytherin first-year, Tiberius Stone, hexing a Hufflepuff in the halls and he doesn’t hesitate to intervene. Tiberius challenges him to a duel and he’s stupid enough to take it – again, according to Bucky. It’s supposed to be a clandestine meeting in the Great Hall the next night, but word gets out and by the time he arrives, it seems like the whole student body is there.

They take their places across from each other, Ty smirking and the Slytherins taking the piss out of Steve – hurling insults.

And, of course, the mouthiest of them is Stark. “Hey, short-stuff! At least you won’t have far to fall when Ty wipes the floor with you!”

Steve sets his feet and proceeds to take Stone down easily with a well-timed Stupefy.

Stone hits the ground to a stunned silence. Steve can’t help smirking at Stark. “I can do this all day.”

The last thing Steve sees is Stark scowl as he helps Stone to his feet, before Steve is carried off by his Gryffindor Housemates in a wave of victory.

He’s carried back to the Tower on a swell of back-patting and cajoling.

Peggy approaches him in the common room and Bucky attempts to chat her up, but she barely looks at him. She sticks out her hand and Steve takes it in a shake.

“Peggy Carter,” she says around an impish smile. “I don’t think we’ve been properly introduced.”

Steve can only smile back. “Steve…um…Rogers.”

“Good work, Steve.”

The moment she walks away, Bucky turns around to face him. “Wow, I’m invisible. It’s like I’ve become you.”

Steve punches him in the arm, but his entire face tingles with heat.

After that, the Captain moniker really sticks.

 

* * *

 

Maybe Buck is right. Maybe Steve takes it too far, but he’s always hated bullies and…well, Slytherin is full of them. With Stark at the very top. 

He’d say he’s surprised by Stark’s attack when Steve confronts him in the midst of threatening that Hufflepuff boy’s life, but...he really should’ve seen it coming. After all, he might have magic, but that doesn’t mean his immune system has gotten any better. Trust Stark to use that fact to his advantage. The pollen from the Tentacula hex sends him straight into anaphylaxis and the last thing he sees before his vision goes dark is Tony leaning over him with panic in his eyes.

“Please don’t die. Please don’t die.”

Steve wakes up in the Hospital Wing, feeling like an idiot. Bucky and the others are crowded around his bed and he groans.

“Wake up, Sleeping Beauty.” Bucky smiles.

“Please tell me no one kissed me,” Steve sighs.

“Wouldn’t you like to know.” Bucky chuckles. “Stark got you good, Stevie.”

“How you feelin’, Cap?” Dum Dum asks, chewing on his quill.

“I’ve been better.” Steve sits up with a grimace.

“Well, you’ll be happy to know the whole school is on your side,” Gabe reports.

“And your girlfriend beat Stark up for you,” Bucky adds.

“I don’t have a girlfriend.” Steve runs a hand down his face. “D’ya mean Peggy?”

Bucky shoots a finger gun at him. “Got it in one.”

An image of Stark leaning down at him with tears welling in his eyes flashes through Steve’s mind and he shakes his head. “Well, I hope she gave it to him better than I did.”

“A woman after your own heart.” Bucky smirks. “C’mon. Let’s blow this popsicle stand. It smells like moping and sweat.”

James Rhodes approaches him in the common room later that night when it’s nearly empty. “Look man, I’m sorry about Tony.”

“It’s fine.” Steve replies with a crooked smile. “From the sound of it, he got what was coming to him eventually.”

Something changes in James’s expression. “I’m not so sure he deserved it.”

Steve stares at him. “He’s a Slytherin.”

James’s gaze hardens. “What does that have to do with anything?”

Steve frowns, confused. “The entire House is full of bullies. Purebloods and rich kids who would rather skirt the rules than do the work necessary to get ahead.”

“Oh, and Gryffindors always follow the rules?” James retorted. “Your girlfriend slapped him in plain sight of a professor and got detention for it.”

“She’s not my – “

“You know what? I don’t care.” James waves his hands in frustration. “Do you know what Tony was even doing that night?”

Steve stands up to his full height, which admittedly isn’t much. He still has to look up to meet the boy’s eyes. “He was bullying a Hufflepuff and threatening his - ”

“He was trying to get his inventions back from Justin Hammer, who stole them.”

Steve goes silent, in shock.

“Yeah.” James nods. “So maybe you should cut Tony some slack. Whatever you think he is, he’s not that.”

James walks away and ascends the stairs, leaving Steve with a lot to think about and the sinking feeling that he’s made a big mistake.

 

* * *

 

It’s almost comical how awkward Stark is when Steve finally approaches him to apologize. Steve gets the sense that he doesn’t get apologized to very often or maybe he isn’t especially great at dealing with emotions. Steve tries that assumption on for size and finds it would explain a lot.

After that, it’s like Steve can see through Stark’s armor – an armor Steve hadn’t even been aware of before. He sees it when Stark makes a cutting remark about a classmate’s potion but then proceeds to help them do it right. He sees it when Stark beats his duelling partner in Defense, but then makes sure to give them wand-handling tips. He sees it when Stark transfigures a red and gold suit of armor and insists to James as they walk through the halls that the colors are in honor of their friendship. And He sees it when Stark bows to the Hippogryph in Magical Creatures and it bows back, gaining the beast’s trust in two minutes flat.

But then the letter from home comes one morning and it’s hard for Steve to see much of anything anymore – through the grief.

He goes home to bury his mother on a Sunday, Bucky at his side. It rains that day like God is weeping too. He can only be grateful that it disguises his own tears.

A great chasm opens up in him that feels like it might consume him whole – a void that he fills with school and Quidditch and even a brief relationship with Peggy.

The day she breaks it off, she takes him aside and says, “I care for you, Steve. But I don’t think you’re really here with me.”

He denies it, but she knows it’s a lie. He can see it in her eyes.

“If you ever need a shoulder to lean on, I’m still your friend.” She pats his chest, just over his heart.

He knows it should hurt as she walks away, but all he feels is a slight tinge of sadness around the edges. He doesn’t feel much of anything anymore.

 

* * *

 

Years pass and the grief ebbs. It turns into something manageable.

That is, until he sees Tony fall out of the sky from a bludger to the chest.

Catching Tony and holding him breaks something open inside of him that he had forgotten was there. And in that moment, he knows with terrible clarity that he’s in love with him. He’s been falling in love with him since the Tentacula incident in first year and it was only his mother’s passing that had clouded the feeling growing inside of him for a while now. The sharp sting of loss that had cut through him as Tony fell to earth is was good a wake-up call as any.  

Of course, there’s no way Tony could feel the same. So, Steve visits him in the Infirmary when he’s still unconscious. Just to make sure he’s still breathing, and to keep the nightmares - Tony’s body being lowered into the earth at the funeral instead of his mother’s - at bay. He passes Barton on the way out, who side-eyes him but doesn’t say anything.

He bumps into Tony a few times in the Halls after that, his hands clammy and his heart in his throat, but Tony always looks like he can’t wait to escape. Maybe Steve’s been coming on too strong. Maybe Tony knows. Steve decides to back off.

“You know he sleeps with anyone who moves, right?” Bucky asks him one night after he catches Steve staring at Tony across the Great Hall. “Why don’t you just ask him to do it with you?”

The revelation stings. He hadn’t known that, but he isn’t surprised. Not really. Tony is beautiful. “I don’t want him like that.”

Bucky takes a swig of pumpkin juice and sighs. “I just don’t want you to get hurt, man.”

Too late, Steve thinks. “Don’t worry. I won’t.”

 

* * *

 

That summer, a friend of his mother’s contracts Steve to work on his farm. Cleaning out horse stalls full of excrement definitely helps put things in perspective. And the hard labor changes him so much that one day he sees himself in the mirror and has to do a double take. He shoots up several inches by summer’s end and his body, once thin and weak, is now defined by muscles he never thought he’d have.

To say it has an impact on his return to Hogwarts for sixth year is an understatement. He doesn’t know what to do with all the attention on the train alone. His ears are permanently burning.

Bucky laughs so hard he cries when he sees him. Then he gives him a noogie. “You’re bigger than I remember.”

“It must be all that goat milk and fresh air,” Sam observes.

Peggy touches his pec reflexively when she sees him again, a blush high on her cheeks. “Well…right...I should get back to my car.”

She exits their carriage and Bucky claps Steve on the back. “Maybe your sweetheart will notice you now, eh, Stevie?”

“Shuddup, Bucky.” Steve’s stomach swoops at even the thought.

“What, Peggy?” Sam questions.

Bucky and Steve share a look. And that’s how Sam finds out about Steve’s crush on Tony, much to Sam’s dismay. But Sam is a good person and a good friend, and he tells Steve that even though he doesn’t think Stark deserves him, he supports Steve. Steve doesn’t know what he did to deserve friends like Sam.

Heads turn when Steve enters the Great Hall that night, but he’s only aware of one. Tony’s staring at him with his mouth open and Steve tries not to feel too exhilarated. After all, despite all the changes, he still feels like the same Steve – the runt of the litter. But Bucky nudges him and grins. “See what I mean?”

Steve smiles, unsure, but when he glances back Tony’s way, he’s engaged in conversation with Romanoff. His earlier elation sinks like a stone. Just because Tony was surprised by his new appearance doesn’t mean he’s attracted to it. He doesn’t even know if Tony likes guys.

 

* * *

 

“Oh, he likes guys,” Sam informs him during Quidditch practice one lazy afternoon as they watch the rest of the team fly drills above them. “You know, if the diversity of his rumored conquests is anything to go by.”

“Sam…”

“What? You wanted to know. I could see it on your face while you moped around this past week.” Sam takes a large bite of an apple and chews it noisily. He swallows and wipes his mouth with the back of his hand. “And, I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but he’s been checking you out.”

Steve’s face heats and his stomach summersaults. “What?”

“Yep.” Sam raises his brows. “He’s been checking out your booty, man.”

Steve shakes his head. “Don’t call it that.”

“Your derriere?”

“Please stop.”

Sam shrugs. They fall into a comfortable silence. Then Sam turns to him, his expression serious. “You want my advice?”

“Something tells me you’re going to give it to me no matter what.”

“I advise you to get him where he can’t escape. Somewhere where he’s comfortable. The dude’s skittish.” Sam takes another bite of his apple. “Do you know the place?”

Steve sighs. “I do.”

“Get yo man,” Sam cheers and slaps his arse.

Steve jolts then rolls his eyes. But he knows Sam can tell that he’s committed now. No turning back. He’s a man on a mission.

 

* * *

 

So he takes his sketch book after class one afternoon and walks into the abandoned classroom Tony uses for his transfiguration.

Tony does a double take when he notices him and Steve finds he can only nod back with a hesitant smile, his ability to speak completely leaving him.  Steve takes a seat at a desk by a window and Tony stares at him for a terrible moment. Then he nods back, and Steve pretends to sketch the things he sees outside on the grounds. But it turns out Tony is more interesting, and he ends up sketching Tony’s hands flying through the air as he molds magical three-dimensional schematics. It’s more than beautiful what Tony does. It’s a work of art. Something that no other wizard could do. Steve’s heart swells at the sight, overwhelmed.

“What is that?”

Tony jumps at the sound of his voice and fumbles his wand. “Um..this? It’s a schematic. For some new armor. Mandatory upgrade. AC you know? It gets hot in there and sometimes the joints stick in the shoulders…Why?”

Steve just smiles. “Just wanted to know. It’s…really cool.”

Tony blushes. Again, it’s clear he doesn’t know how to take compliments. “Of course it is. I made it.”

Steve grins. “Of course.”

They stare at each other for a long moment and Tony fidgets.

Steve points at the center of the holographic armor. “What’s that?”

“Oh!” Tony rips his gaze away from him to see what he’s referring to. “That’s just the arc reactor. Well, it’s not really a reactor in the classical sense. It runs on magic energy – burns clean and endless. I actually upgraded it the other day. See, here you can see where…”

Steve let’s Tony’s voice wash over him, fascinated.

After a month of this, he thinks maybe he’s getting somewhere with Tony. Maybe they’ve become friends.

Steve gets asked out by multiple girls and some boys in the Halls, but he always gently turns them down. And Tony asks, “What are you waiting for?”

“The right partner,” Steve replies, with the sinking feeling that there’s a disconnect between them that he doesn’t have the courage to bridge.

Peggy kisses him on the cheek in the Great Hall that night and echoes Tony, “Ask that Stark-boy to the Yule Ball, Steve. What are you waiting for?”

Steve grimaces and blushes.

He gears himself up to do it. He’ll do it today, he thinks, as he crosses the threshold into Tony’s classroom.

So, it feels like a punch to the gut that this is the day Tony tells him to leave him alone for a while. Tony won’t even look at him as he says it, and Steve knows now with crushing clarity that there is no way Tony reciprocates his feelings. That he’s probably been making Tony uncomfortable with his own obvious adoration. He leaves that afternoon and never comes back. His heart aches, but he tries to move on and give Tony the space he wants.

He mopes after that. He tries not to, but the shame eats him up inside. How long had Tony been putting up with him before he finally just snapped? Steve had thought they’d been becoming friends at least, but it’s obvious now that he’d just been an imposition. He buries his sketchbook with all the incriminating sketches of Tony at the bottom of his trunk and tries not to think about them again.

Bucky claps him on the back as he sits on the couch in the common room and stares into the fire. “He doesn’t deserve you, Stevie. He’s a jerk.”

Steve doesn’t have the heart to argue. But Tony isn’t a jerk. That’s his armor, the person he projects to the world. But inside, he’s infinitely kind. And that’s why his rejection hurts so much.

Of course, Tony chooses that night to literally crash into the Girl’s dormitory in Gryffindor Tower and turn all of his assumptions on their head.

”He’s been a right jealous berk,” Peggy informs him with a twitch of her lips, amused, as she levitates Tony’s limp body down the stairs. “Crashed into the girls’ dorms and demanded I give you back.”

Steve rushes to carry him the rest of the way to the couch and lays Tony’s head on his lap. He’s concerned, but Tony is definitely still breathing. He looks like he’s only asleep.

Peggy turns to go. “He’s all yours.”

He doesn’t fully believe that, but then Tony wakes up, color high on his cheeks as he realizes he’s in Steve’s lap. He looks up beneath his dark eye lashes at Steve and Steve just knows. His friends were right all along.

When their lips meet, it’s like fireworks go off in Steve’s core, burning him up from the inside. Tony’s mouth is plush and soft, and he gives as good as he gets.

 

* * *

 

The first time they do anything intimate, it’s in a broom closet of all places. Tony accosts him outside of class and tugs him inside. Then Tony pushes him against the door and has his merry way with him. 

Steve doesn’t mind. He pulls Tony in, his hands skirting up and under the hem of Tony’s t-shirt so he can grip the bare skin at his sides.

Tony pulls back, his cheeks flushed and lips red. He casts a Silencio and his fingers find Steve’s zipper. “Can I?”

“Oh, God,” Steve gasps.

“You can call me Tony.” Tony smirks and takes Steve in hand, calloused fingers running along his length.

Steve huffs a laugh, but he doesn’t last long.

He thinks to be embarrassed but Tony’s pupils are blown and he mutters under his breath, “So hot.” Like it’s a secret.

Tony is good enough to tuck him back in and Vanish the evidence, before Steve turns them around and drops to his knees.

“Oh, Merlin,” Tony gasps.

“Call me Steve,” Steve says before he takes Tony in his mouth.

Tony doesn’t last long either. Steve is pretty proud.

 

* * *

 

After that, everything is relatively smooth sailing. Steve loves Tony and Tony loves Steve. Even when Tony tells all of their friends about what they do together in their private time.

“Hey!” Tony retorts. “At least it’s all complimentary. I wouldn’t still be with you if I didn’t enjoy your ass…ets.”

Steve rolls his eyes, but he pecks him on the lips. “I know you love my ass. I love yours, too.”

Tony blushes all the way to his ears. “Of course you do. I do pilates.”

Steve just grins. He thinks Tony got the underlying message, anyway – Steve loves more than just Tony’s ass, and he can tell Tony feels the same way about Steve. Tony Stark still wears armor, even around him, but it’s fine. He can see through it easily enough. 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading this companion piece to There Should be a Potion for This. I haven't written in a really long time so I hope this is legible. 
> 
> If you want to follow me on Tumblr, I'm Lampsprite7 on there. 
> 
> Thanks!


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